Santander staff could do 70% office hours: Botin

Bloomberg

Banco Santander SA could eventually bring staff back to the office most of the time, according to Ana Botin, executive chair of the Spanish bank.
“We’re looking at 60% to 70% in person, 30% to 40% remote. That, I would say, is the range of options we’re considering,” Botin said during the Institute of International Finance annual membership meeting, held virtually again this year. “We’re still not back to normal in many places so we’re taking very much a wait-and-see approach.”
Meanwhile, global suppliers adapting to the post-Covid world aren’t in a rush to bring production closer to their home markets, according to Standard Chartered Plc Chairman Jose Vinals.
The weeklong IIF gathering kicked off with finance leaders including JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s head Jamie Dimon and Barclays Plc’s boss Jes Staley scheduled to speak.
Santander’s Ana Botin said the split between home and remote work will vary by the needs of the job, with engineers for instance needing less face-time than bank tellers.
“Most people, most of our teams, would like flexibility but part of it, being in the office is also something they value,” said Botin. The bank, which employs 190,000 people globally, laid out a hybrid work plan for its US staff in July.
“The reshoring story is something which is massively overblown,” Standard Chartered Plc Chairman Jose Vinals said at the virtual meeting.
“The diversification of supply chains in order to make them more resilient, and also some shortening to bring them closer to the region, I think that’s something which is happening,” he said, referring to the shift from north to south Asia.
Supply chains globally are realigning after the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, which choked supplies of everything from cars to crab meat.